MONROVIA AND LOWE’S CASE STUDY

The Challenge

Monrovia and Lowe’s sought to increase engagement with gardeners while making purchase decisions and throughout the life of plant ownership. As one of the country’s premier plant brands, Monrovia’s products are sold in approximately 3,500 retail locations nationwide, local and regional gardening centers like Calloway’s Nursery and Stein’s Garden and Home, in addition to the 1,750+ Lowe’s locations.

“We wanted to begin making strategic investments in innovative technology such as mobile and web that will benefit both consumers as well as our retail partners,” said Katie Tamony, Monrovia CMO. “This will in turn help us further our market leadership position.”

Our Solutions

In conjunction with IntegraColor’s subsidiary, Horticulture Marketing and Printing, Blue Calypso deployed short codes through its KIOSentrix® platform on 20,000 unique plant products.

Additionally, the companies ran a pilot program conducted with Monrovia in the spring of 2016. IntegraColor and Blue Calypso learned that 98 percent of the short code interaction occurred at home post-purchase, which gives brands an opportunity to deliver suggested content and direct buyers back to the store to purchase additional products, ultimately increasing basket size and foot traffic.

By capturing information about consumers through short code activations, including exact locations, the platform gives suppliers and retailers the opportunity to better communicate and understand the buyer’s needs. This can lead brands to develop a layered approach and deploy additional engagement tactics to interact with the same customers multiple times, such as direct mail or heat mapping based on store proximity.

350000

Activations

1757

Locations

Results

Since deployment, the results have increased both Monrovia and Lowe’s confidence in the technology and its ability to engage consumers. The two brands plan to build on their programs’ success in 2017 by developing a wider variety of engagement options and increasing the prominence of each tag’s call to action.

IntegraColor and Blue Calypso are working with both Monrovia and Lowe’s to expand efforts for 2017, including assisting with creation of their new tag designs. The companies are also using the information collected thus far to develop new text and short code messaging that will deliver highly geographically accurate plant care information next year through text message marketing and the short codes.

“This is only the beginning for retailers, suppliers and consumers to use short code technology to improve the plant care experience. Our goal is to help brands establish themselves as trusted resources for customers as they care for their plants—well after the time of purchase,” said Jack Davis, CEO of Horticulture Marketing and Printing. “By working to develop a system that can deliver precise location-based information, we will be able to help these brands upsell and cross sell their products, creating a truly integrated approach to the plant care experience.”